Treatment of fabric and product thereof



Patented @ct. f8, 1932 ATENT oFFicE hurrah stares CAMILLE DBEYF'US, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., AND HERBERT PLATT, F CUMBERLAND, MARYLAND, ASSIGNORS T0 CELANESE CORPORATION OF AMERICA, A GOBEORATION OF DELAWARE TREATMENT OF FABRIC AND PRODUCT THEREOF No Drawing. V

This invention-relates. to the treatment of fabrics containlng yarns of organic derivatives of cellulose, and relates more partlcularly to treatment of fabrics consisting wholly of yarns of organic derivations of cellulose in order to reduce the tendency thereof to develop faults such as slipping, laddering or splitting.

An object of our invention is to reduce the m tendency of a fabric comprising yarns of organic derivations of cellulose to develop faults by the treatment of such fabrics with a reagent that causes shrinkage of said yarns. Other objects of our invention will appear from the following detailed description.

Certain fabrics containing yarns of organic derivatives of cellulose as now made tend to develop faults when subjected to stresses and strains. These faults are known as slipping when they occur in a woven fabric, laddering or running when they occurin a circular knit fabric, and splitting when they occurin a warp knitted fabric.

We have found that when such fabrics are 2 treated with an agent that tends to cause shrinkage of the organic derivatives of cellulose yarn, the tendency of such fabric to develop these faults is materially reduced.

In accordance with our invention we reduce the tendency of fabrics containing yarns of organic derivatives of cellulose to develop these faults by treating such fabrics with an agent that causes shrinkage of these yarns. The fabric to be treated by our invention may be anysuitable woven, knitted or netted fabric. This fabric contains yarns of organic derivatives of cellulose such as organic esters of cellulose and cellulose ethers. Examples of organic esters of cellulose are cellulose acetate, cellulose formate, cellulose propio-nate and cellulose butyrate, while examples of cellulose ethers are ethyl cellulose methyl cellulose and benzyl cellulose. While the best results are obtained by the treatment of fabrics that consist Wholly of these yarns of organic derivatives of cellulose, the fabric may also contain yarns of other fibres such as silk, cotton, reconstituted cellulose, etc. However, we prefer to employ fabrics consist- 5 ing wholly of organic derivative yarn.

Application filed January 12, 1929. Serial No. 332,228.

An example of a suitable reagent that causes shrinkage of yarns of organic derivatives of cellulose is an aqueous solution of nitric acid. The nitric acid may be of any suitable concentration, say from 10 to Twad., and may be employed at temperatures of O to 60 C. Treatment of the fabric for l to 10 minutes or more is usually sufficient to produce the desired result. As to the temperatures employed it is pointed out that the lower the concentration of the nitric acid solution employed, the higher the temperature that may be used; while with the more concentrated nitricacid solution, the high temperatures should not be employed since in this case the nitric acid solution tends to dissolve the organic derivative of cellulose. Likewise as to the time of treatment, this depends on the concentration of the nitric acid and temperature; thelower the concentration or the lower the temperature employed, the more time is required.

The reagent for causing the shrinkage may be applied to the whole surface of the fabric in any suitable manner such as by immersing in a bath of the reagent, by brushing or spraying the reagent onto the fabric or by padding the same to the fabric.

By our invention fabric containing organic derivatives of cellulose with highly reduced tendency to develop'faults such as slipping, laddering or splitting is produced. The fabric treated by our invention is of considerably closer construction than the untreated fabric.

An important application of our invention is in the treatment of mens or Womens hosiery, which are knitted with yarns of organic derivatives of cellulose. Hosiery when treated by our invention have a greatly reduced tendency to ladder or run, and are, therefore,

of much greater commercial value than untreated hosiery.

In order further to illustrate our invention, but without being limited thereto, the

following specific examples are given.

. Example I A circular knit fabric consisting wholly of yarns of cellulose acetate having 32 wales and &0 courses per inch is treated With an cellulose to the action of nitric acid of E2 aqueous solution of nitric acid of 38 Twad. at room temperatures for one minute. The fabric is then withdrawn, rinsed in cold water, dried, then scoured with soap, rinsed and.

dried. The resultant fabric now has approx- Example I! A warp knitted fabric consisting wholly of cellulose acetate yarn having 38 wales and courses per inch is treated in the same manner as that described under Example I. l-he fabric after such treatment has approximately 44 wales and approximately 76 courses per inch and has substantially no tendency to split. Moreover this "fabric has much less tendency to develop pin holes than the untreated fabric.

it is to be understood that the foregoing detailed description is given merely by way of illustration and that many variations may he made therein without departing from the spirit of our invention.

Having described our invention, What we claim and desire to secure lay Letters Patent is:

.1. Process for reducing the tendency of a knitted fabric to develop faults comprising subjecting a knitted fabric consisting wholly oi yarns oi organic derivatives oi cellulose to the action of a solution oi" nitric acid or? such concentration as to cause shrinkage of the fabric.

Q. Process for reducing" the tenc'iency of a knitted fabric to develop comprising subjecting a knitted fabric cons g oi yarns of cellulose acetate to actior a solution of nitric acid such co cel as to cause shrinkage of i l 3. lProcess of gltted iabrics sistin wl'iolly of yarns of organic of ce iulose comprising s1 ject the action of a solu on o 28 60 Twad, whereby fabric to develop faults is educea Process of treating sisting wholly of of ce comprising" subjecting" such 15a tion of a solution of ni'ric 2 60 whereby tendency to develop fau' ts is reduced.

. 5. Process o der of a circ l knit brie cc jecting a circular wholly o f yarns of organic d 3o -g a circular K111i; iaoric cowlolly or yarns of cellulose subscribed our names.

action of an aqueous-solution of nitric acid of 28 to 60 Twad. T I

7. The process of reducing the tendency of knit hose to develop faults comprising subjecting knit hose consisting of yarns of organic derivatives of cellulose to the action of a solution of nitric acid of such concentration as to cause shrinkage of the fabric.

8. The process of reducing the tendency of knit hose to develop faults comprising subjecting knit hose consisting of yarns of cellulose acetate to the action of a solution of nitric acid of such concentration as to cause shrinkage of the fabric.

in testimony whereof, we have hereunto CAMILLE PERBER'L 

